Would we ever have a Ghanaian business dynasty?
I spent a couple of days with Professor of Finance and Economics, Godfred A. Bokpin, in Kumasi as part of Graphic Business/Access Bank SME clinic.
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As has become the norm these days, any gathering of two or more people would bring up the topic of the country’s finances and what lies ahead.
During his presentation at the SME Clinic, Prof. Bokpin drew my attention and that of all participants to what some of us have been brooding about for some time now.
Among the top 10 billionaires in Africa, there is no Ghanaian. The first country south of the Sahara to gain independence from colonial rule some six scores and six years ago cannot showcase one individual to represent us as a Ghanaian business worthy of note on the continent of Africa.
What a shame!
In the early days of this year, during the yearly New Year School, Mr Daniel MacKorley, popularly known as MacDan, the Executive Chairman of McDan Group of companies made a similar statement.
That Ghanaian businesses are feeding off the crumps left by the foreign companies in this country. He was emphatic and dared his audience to name one Ghanaian indigenous company among the top 10 companies in our own country.
Take a wild guess. From telecoms to banking, industry, services and supermarket chains. Foreigners have dominated every sector of this economy. This is no xenophobic statement, “fellow Ghanaians”, this is the very true state of our economy presently.
It is a sorry state to lament. Yes, history has not been kind to us. The Siaw’s, B. A. Mensah’s and the Appenteng’s and the many industrialists who in times past had to suffer some form of regime persecution and lost their businesses.
How is that different today? A so-called democratic dispensation that springs out political entrepreneurs, whose eight-year cyclical entrepreneurship ends with a political party has become the norm. These have blighted out genuine entrepreneurs who have the vision to see opportunities and invest resources to grow the economy.
But this is just one of many ills that have affected business growth or to be more precise, indigenous business growth in the country.
Today, the only businesses thriving in this country are the ones owned by foreign nationals, who repatriate their profits offshore.
The foreigners have understood our way of thinking. That we mistrust each other so much so that these foreigners are able to pool resources together to take any indigenous companies out of any tender process.
Indeed, Ghana is NOT Poor. We have poor leaders and we have adopted a system of governance that only perpetuates poverty systemically on our people and makes foreigners the real owners of this economy.
It is sad that the Ghana we envisaged under Kwame Nkrumah, where Ghanaians were to hold the “commanding heights of our economy” has been nothing but a charade.
But then again, why do we blame our leaders? Are they not a reflection of who we are? A dishonest people, whose self-interests must override the national interest.
This is a country that pay judgement debts to foreign companies even when the courts have ruled in our favour.
We must go back to basics. We need to have a hard look at ourselves in the mirror and ask the question; what kind of a country do we want to build for the future generations?
Building businesses will require a deliberate attempt by those entrusted with our collective power to create opportunities for the indigenous entrepreneurs.
Nigeria has done it, South Africa and the developed world have all done it to empower their indigenous people.
We don’t have to re-invent the wheel.
We just need to be intentional about creating not just Ghanaian business giants, but globally competitive Ghanaian dynasties.